DISCLOSE Act Before Senate Today

Posted July 27, 2010, 12:28 a.m.

The U.S. Senate will be voting on the DISCLOSE Act later today (Tuesday, 7/27/2010). This is your last chance to make your opinion known to your representatives, and I strongly encourage you to write, call, or visit your Senators right away.

I’ve written about this pernicious act before, and the dangerous chilling effect it will have on legitimate political speech from both sides. President Barack Obama’s (D) administration has characterized this act as an effort to stymie the efforts of ‘special interest’ groups to influence politics. The act will, indeed, stymie many interest groups, but we cannot delude ourselves into thinking this is a good thing.

The problem is that these interest groups, as I stated in my previous discussions of this law, “aren’t some diabolical, nebulous enemy of our democracy; they are democracy.” You and I, whether we fall on the ‘left’ or ‘right’ of the political spectrum, have the right to support groups we agree with. Those groups we support have the right to spend their money on political speech.

DISCLOSE will muzzle these groups—the Gun Owners of America and Planned Parenthood; the ACLU and FRC; GLAAD and Freedom’s Watch alike. It is a blatant affront to Constitutionally protected free speech and free association. Freedom-loving Americans, whether they are conservative or liberal, must oppose it.

Once again, this is your last opportunity to express your opposition to your Senators. I urge you to contact them today and ask them to oppose this unconstitutional power-grab and encroachment on your political freedoms. The Capitol switchboard can be reached at (202) 224-3121.

Scott Bradford has been building web sites and using them to say what he thinks since 1995, which tended to get him in trouble with power-tripping assistant principals at the time. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration from George Mason University, but has spent most of his career (so far) working on public- and private-sector web sites. He is not a member of any political party, and brands himself an ‘independent constitutional conservative.’ In addition to holding down a day job and blogging about challenging subjects like politics, religion, and technology, Scott is also a devout Catholic, gun-owner, bike rider, and music lover with a wife, two cats, and a dog.